Air Pollution Control District

What’s the answer for dealing with past, present and potential safety problems in Rubbertown? Kick out the industry? Move the people? Find some middle ground where everyone can coexist? Is it even possible to coexist?

Start your car. See that puff from the tailpipe in your rear-view mirror? Benzene, butadiene, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide. Louisville communities burdened by pollution on the West End also face emissions from local traffic.

Louisville, Kentucky's Riverside Gardens neighborhood is surrounded on three sides by pollution. In its heyday, it was a resort community for Louisvillians who wanted a quick, close getaway from the city.

In the early days of Rubbertown, no job was dirtier than an entry-level post at the B.F. Goodrich plant. Workers climbed into large vats that had held the chemical vinyl chloride to clean them. Decades later, at least 26 of these men have developed cancer and died from it.

All of the major factories in Louisville's Rubbertown area have permits governing how much they can emit. But when residents report unpleasant smells, it’s hard to know where they’re coming from and whether a factory is violating its permit.

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